Good thing we had a lot of eating appointments this last week because our fridge is broken. Ever since my 2nd day here it has slowly gotten warmer....now the freezer won´t freeze our food!! I love missionary life!! We put our milk outside, but had to throw everything else away. We get a new one on Wednesday!! The Bremen apartment is just so great....just peachy...hope you can hear the sarcasm in my voice!!! :o) I will try to send pics next week!!
Christmas was so great!! I got to enjoy 3 days of it!! Germans are so cool...they find any excuse to have a holiday. So this is Christmas in Germany...
Heiliger Abend (Christmas Eve) The stores are still open till about 1pm and then it is family time. There isn´t much missionary work that you can do on the 3 days of Christmas because it is dangerous...don´t get between a German and their holidays!! lol. At about 5pm the kids are kicked out of the living room and sent to another room in the house or out for a stroll so that the Parents can light the Christmas tree. In the olden days the German´s would put real candles on the tree and then light them and put decorations on the trees. The Santa comes to at that time and then the kids come into the room and open up presents and get to see the tree and stuff. It was interesting because in America they start selling Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving, but here I didn´t really see Christmas Trees for sale till about 1.5 - 2 weeks before Christmas. The traditions are changing a bit and conforming to more what America does, but a lot of people still do it this way. I didn´t get to see it myself, but I got to hear stories.
We went to the Fritzsch´s house and enjoyed a wonderful German Meal...Rotkohl (red cabbage), Roladen (Rolled Beef and bacon), Knödeln (potatoes pellets and seasoning boiled in a little plastic bag), and for Nachtisch (dessert) we had Quark (the most tasty yogurty thing ever...not aloud in America because it is too alive!!) We then sang songs and opened some presents together...we got toilet paper and laundry soap. It was a good time.
Weihnachten oder Der Ersten Weihnachtstag (Christmas or the First day of Christmas) So this day is our normal Christmas. They just eat and hang out with family. We went to the Bishop´s house and had dinner with his family. We ate Puten (Turkey...somehow she bought a turkey that was 17Kilo...that´s like a little less then 40lbs...ooops), Kartoffeln (Potatoes), Kartoffelnpuree´ (Mashed Potatoes), Rotkohl (red Cabbage), und Preiselbeeresause (Cranberry Sauce...not normal. German´s don´t normally eat cranberry´s. I think it was for our sake!! :o)) We also had Scottisch Firecrackers...these things are hard to explain, but there is a paper crown inside that we had to wear, jokes and also a little prize!! It was cool. We also went on a walk and played a little bit outside....I also took a nap....only for 20 minutes or so, but it was nice!!
Der Zweiten Weihnachtstag (Second day of Christmas) I actually don´t know the traditions for these days...it really is just an excuse to party, but I don´t really mind!! We went to a member from the Philippines and that was fun. Her house was SO cold. I almost wanted to be outside more then in her house. She is the funniest lady though. We got to speak English which was nice. It was so fun. We ate some food from her home country and watched a few Christmas church movies. It was a good time.
I have a poem in German about the 4 candles that they light on the 4 Sundays before Christmas, but my comp is giving me the eye because I´m taking so long to email!! lol :o) I will have to translate it another time!! It´s really cool though. Well we did get to visit a lot of people this last week and that was good. It will be great to get back to a normal week, but this week is New years and Fireworks are not illegal to light alone...like in safe old Washington. So our president has asked us to be in on Silwester (New Years Eve) at 6pm sharp!! We will find something to do though...like sleep!! YEAH!!! I love to sleep!! Well I love you but have to go!! Have a great week and a happy new year!!
Deine Sister Jones
29 December 2008
Letter #30 (12-22-08)
(Christi forgot to email this letter to me last week...so here it is, a bit late...)
Sister Jones
So...I have arrived in the beautiful city of Bremen. It really is beautiful here. It was really hard to leave Bielefeld and to say goodbye, but I did it because the Lord wants me else where. I really like it here though. My Companion is Sister Fowkes and she is from Arizona. She is 24 and has been on her mission for 2 transfers. I´m still a little nervous about our German, but we are getting through it. The Lord did not send me to Bremen to fail. She can understand a lot and we are working on her speaking more. She already has to speak more because I don´t know the investigators or the ward and so she gets to practice her German by introducing me. She is doing great and she has already seen a difference in her ability to speak. I have also seen a difference. I can´t understand as much as I want to yet, but I understand a lot more then I give myself credit for!! It´s really weird to have someone ask me German grammer questions and ask me what the person was talking about!! I can´t believe that I can actually answer. I speak different German then she is used to. Every Missionary learns different words and it also depends on where you serve. I speak Bielefeld German and so she questions me a lot about what I say, for example...I´ve NEVER heard that word before...I don´t think they use that word here...they pronouce that different here. I just smile and try to explain that she hasn´t heard all the German words yet and that they also speak different in Bielefeld. She really loved her trainer and she liked the way her trainer spoke and did missionary work. I´m different then her trainer, but have also had a lot of experiences and we can learn a lot from each other. I think things are going better now...she is getting used to having a different person around and we get along fine!! She is really fun and it will be a great 7 week transfer! I have a lot to learn and can´t wait to find out what I can do to change Bremen for the better.
Sister Jones
25 December 2008
Merry Christmas...
Today was the day we got to hear her voice...Christi is doing great and sounds fantastic. She got to her new area a week ago and says that Bremen is a much bigger city. It's still new to her, so the coming weeks will most likely bring a lot of new investigators and stories. She told us that the German people really love their holidays...and Christmas is 3 days long. They celebrate on Christmas Eve...then Christmas day is Christmas #1 and the 26th is Christmas #2. Christi was able to spend Christmas day with a missionary couple and the Bishop's family in her new ward. She said she had a great day! During her conversation with her family, she bore her testimony in German...
They also convinced her to sing "O Holy Night" (for those of you who aren't aware, Christi is a bit of a singer...okay really she has the most beautiful voice, and this song is the one we expect to hear every Christmas)...of course after much stalling on the phone she gave them about 10 seconds...
It was great to hear her voice and to know that she is happy and doing well! We are all excited to hear from her next week via email and hear more about her new area and the people she will be serving there. Thanks to all of you who continue to support her and pray for her!
Happy Holidays to you all!
22 December 2008
See what happens when you are awake at the crack of dawn...
So I won't try to explain why I was up at 4:30 this morning...but I was...and on the computer. So I decided to keep my eye out to see if I could catch Christi on the email. At around 5am, I got a quick little weekly email from her (just a response to my email and not much else since we get to talk in 4 days). I sent the following email right back and then the rest was a funny few minutes:
(from Teri):
are you reading and responding to emails right now....if you are...hi....if your email is just arriving 'cause it takes for ever for emails to come through from Germany...then you probably won't understand this email...I couldn't sleep so I am awake (5am).
(from Christi):
hi!! I´m still here...are you there??
(From Teri):
yes...of course we catch each other the week we get to talk on the phone
(from Christi):
Yeah figures!! Well I´m on a computer in a library and it shuts off every 15 minutes...I only have 4 mintues left!! I love you and can´t wait to talk on thursday!! Now I have 3 minutes!! :o)
(from Teri):
are you reading and responding to emails right now....if you are...hi....if your email is just arriving 'cause it takes for ever for emails to come through from Germany...then you probably won't understand this email...I couldn't sleep so I am awake (5am).
(from Christi):
hi!! I´m still here...are you there??
(From Teri):
yes...of course we catch each other the week we get to talk on the phone
Yeah figures!! Well I´m on a computer in a library and it shuts off every 15 minutes...I only have 4 mintues left!! I love you and can´t wait to talk on thursday!! Now I have 3 minutes!! :o)
(from Teri):
If you get this...I love too! ...and mom will be so jealous!
(from Christi):
Yeah..and I give you permission to rub it in her face!!
***Note: the emails took like 5 minutes for me to get from her...I'm not sure what the lag time was on her end...but it made for a difficult normal conversation, but kinda fun all the same! Christi didn't send a family/friends letter this week, but we get to talk to her on Christmas, so I will give an update after that! Merry Christmas!!!
If you get this...I love too! ...and mom will be so jealous!
(from Christi):
Yeah..and I give you permission to rub it in her face!!
***Note: the emails took like 5 minutes for me to get from her...I'm not sure what the lag time was on her end...but it made for a difficult normal conversation, but kinda fun all the same! Christi didn't send a family/friends letter this week, but we get to talk to her on Christmas, so I will give an update after that! Merry Christmas!!!
16 December 2008
Q&A...
Here are a few excerpts from an email to Christi's mom, answering some questions...
"Yeah I just saw the Christmas Broadcast last night. It was cool because of what President Uchtdorf talked about. He explained my Christmas experience here. And just so you know...Stollen (the Christmas cake he talked about) is really dry and ussually doesn´t taste very good!! I have had some that is good, but that is rare. I don´t like it too much, but I eat it!! :o)
How cold is it here?? Well I only know in Celcius. Usually it is right around 0 degrees...which I know is 32 degrees F. It´s only gotten down to -2 degrees, but it is colder in Bremen because of the water!! Bbrrrrrr!!! It´s not that bad when you just walk outside...I mean I lived in Rexberg of all places. It was like -20 F sometimes in the winter, but even when it is only 32F here in Germany...it seems colder because we are out in it for so long!! It´s only beginning...January and February are usually the coldest months of the year, but I only have to live through it once...that is what keeps me going. Next year I will be warm inside...all bundled up with my family!! :o)"
"Yeah I just saw the Christmas Broadcast last night. It was cool because of what President Uchtdorf talked about. He explained my Christmas experience here. And just so you know...Stollen (the Christmas cake he talked about) is really dry and ussually doesn´t taste very good!! I have had some that is good, but that is rare. I don´t like it too much, but I eat it!! :o)
How cold is it here?? Well I only know in Celcius. Usually it is right around 0 degrees...which I know is 32 degrees F. It´s only gotten down to -2 degrees, but it is colder in Bremen because of the water!! Bbrrrrrr!!! It´s not that bad when you just walk outside...I mean I lived in Rexberg of all places. It was like -20 F sometimes in the winter, but even when it is only 32F here in Germany...it seems colder because we are out in it for so long!! It´s only beginning...January and February are usually the coldest months of the year, but I only have to live through it once...that is what keeps me going. Next year I will be warm inside...all bundled up with my family!! :o)"
Week #29 (12-15-08)
So, the time has come....I have been TRANSFERRED!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! I´m going to Bremen and I will be comps with a sister only on her 3rd transfer....she has only been here for 3 months!! That is nothing...well it is something, but I am considered her follow up trainer or as the missionaries here call it...her step-mom!! Her trainer is her mom. I´m leaving my place of birth and I´m a little sad. It was hard to say goodbye to the members and over the next few days I will be saying goodbye to the investigators. I know that this is what the Lord wants for me, I just hope that I did what I was supposed to do while I was here. 7 months is a long time, but not quite long enough. I´m excited for Bremen though. The other Sister Jones served there for about 7 months and she loved it!! I hope it is as good as she made it sound!! It´s all what you make it though.
This is my new address:
Sister Christi Jones
Bismarckstrasse 92
28203 Bremen
Deutschland
Zone Conference was really good. We had a few talks from the AP´s and then broke up into zones and our zone leaders then talked to us. I have the BEST zone leaders. They are the nicest and most charitable people I have met. Who ever new that there where people like them in the world!! I will miss serving with them. Now I have the highest standards for my future zone leaders...they have a lot to live up too!! lol.
After that we ate lunch...which is my least favorite part. I´m not the type of sister to sit down with the Elders and chat. If I have served with them then I feel more comfortable doing that because we have things we can talk about...old investigators, members, experiences as a district and so on. But Elders that I don´t know yet...I have absolutely no desire to talk to them... I don´t know what to say. I don´t want to talk to them about before their mission or after their mission...that´s just to personal for me as a sister. I´m not snobby or anything. I say hi and ask them how their area is doing. I wish them good luck and so on. That is about the extent of my conversations at lunch. The Elders I do know I will talk to more, but as I said it usually has more to do with the work...which is good. Maybe I have lost my social skills, but I´m sure that they will come back when I need them. :o) I left lunch early because I was bored so I went and practiced the songs that Sister Cha and I were going to sing. We ended up doing a Christmas medley. It turned out pretty good I think...even though I can´t sing as well as before. All the time I spent to cover up my nerves when I sing have gone down the drain...but it was fine because I felt the Spirit and that is what is important. We had a music and spoken word type thing and then President and Sister Thompson talked to us. I really got more into the Christmas Spirit from this Conference and realized how cool it is that I get to be here at this time preaching the Gospel and talking of Christ. Even if the people don´t seem to listen.
A lot of our appointments fell out this last week, but I finally got to see O again. She has been really sick for the past couple weeks, but I called her and invited her to come to my last Sunday. She just stayed for the first hour, but I got to see her and say goodbye. I will miss her so much as well. She was my dream baptism because Sister Jones and I found her on the street and I really wanted to see her get baptised. Find, teach and baptise is every missionaries goal!! I just hope she continues to come. I also said goodbye to Frau A today and my heart hurt so bad!! I can´t explain the feeling except that it was like someone had ripped it out of my body, stepped on it, poured salt on it and then stuck it back in my body!! I was so sad and don´t know when I will ever see her again...maybe never. I have never experienced that in my life. When ever I say goodbye to family and friends I know that I will be able to see them again. The states are not that far apart, but Germany is really far...and she is from Sri Lanke...who knows how long she will stay here in Germany!! Man...this is hard. I will really miss everyone I have met here!! I love Bielefeld...I was born here, but now it is time to move on and to try and change another place!! I just hope that I accomplished all that I was meant to here in the beautiful City of Bielefeld!!
Sister Jones
This is my new address:
Sister Christi Jones
Bismarckstrasse 92
28203 Bremen
Deutschland
Zone Conference was really good. We had a few talks from the AP´s and then broke up into zones and our zone leaders then talked to us. I have the BEST zone leaders. They are the nicest and most charitable people I have met. Who ever new that there where people like them in the world!! I will miss serving with them. Now I have the highest standards for my future zone leaders...they have a lot to live up too!! lol.
After that we ate lunch...which is my least favorite part. I´m not the type of sister to sit down with the Elders and chat. If I have served with them then I feel more comfortable doing that because we have things we can talk about...old investigators, members, experiences as a district and so on. But Elders that I don´t know yet...I have absolutely no desire to talk to them... I don´t know what to say. I don´t want to talk to them about before their mission or after their mission...that´s just to personal for me as a sister. I´m not snobby or anything. I say hi and ask them how their area is doing. I wish them good luck and so on. That is about the extent of my conversations at lunch. The Elders I do know I will talk to more, but as I said it usually has more to do with the work...which is good. Maybe I have lost my social skills, but I´m sure that they will come back when I need them. :o) I left lunch early because I was bored so I went and practiced the songs that Sister Cha and I were going to sing. We ended up doing a Christmas medley. It turned out pretty good I think...even though I can´t sing as well as before. All the time I spent to cover up my nerves when I sing have gone down the drain...but it was fine because I felt the Spirit and that is what is important. We had a music and spoken word type thing and then President and Sister Thompson talked to us. I really got more into the Christmas Spirit from this Conference and realized how cool it is that I get to be here at this time preaching the Gospel and talking of Christ. Even if the people don´t seem to listen.
A lot of our appointments fell out this last week, but I finally got to see O again. She has been really sick for the past couple weeks, but I called her and invited her to come to my last Sunday. She just stayed for the first hour, but I got to see her and say goodbye. I will miss her so much as well. She was my dream baptism because Sister Jones and I found her on the street and I really wanted to see her get baptised. Find, teach and baptise is every missionaries goal!! I just hope she continues to come. I also said goodbye to Frau A today and my heart hurt so bad!! I can´t explain the feeling except that it was like someone had ripped it out of my body, stepped on it, poured salt on it and then stuck it back in my body!! I was so sad and don´t know when I will ever see her again...maybe never. I have never experienced that in my life. When ever I say goodbye to family and friends I know that I will be able to see them again. The states are not that far apart, but Germany is really far...and she is from Sri Lanke...who knows how long she will stay here in Germany!! Man...this is hard. I will really miss everyone I have met here!! I love Bielefeld...I was born here, but now it is time to move on and to try and change another place!! I just hope that I accomplished all that I was meant to here in the beautiful City of Bielefeld!!
Sister Jones
09 December 2008
Week #28 (12-9-08)
Well we moved our P-day again. We had so many people who could meet with us yesterday that we moved it to today. It is really funny because we normally meet with Frau A on Monday (which we still did) but every time we move our P-day we still seem to have Frau A in the morning. I don´t think I have had a P-day with out Frau A for many weeks!! I love it though because she is so cool!!
This last week was so great!!
Tuesday:
We had an appointment Frau O, which was a referral from a member. She is from Africa and speaks English. She is a strong believer in the Bible and very religious...just like most Africans from Gauna and Nigeria. She has a 4 year old daughter here in Germany and 2 sons back in Africa with her mom. We made another appointment with her for later this week and so she became a new investigator.
Then we stopped by an old contact O and we set up an appointment with her. We had already taught her, but since she didn´t have time to meet with us before we never had a time to make out a new appointment with her. So since we made out a new appointment she became a new investigator.
Then we went to an Enrichment Activity with Frau S. We took Marzipan and molded it into animal shapes...I´m not to good at that!! Marzipan is this sugar stuff with Almonds ground as small as it will go. They put it in almost EVERYTHING here. I didn´t really like it at first, but it is growing on me!! We had a lot of fun though. And because Frau S came she also became a new investigator.
We got 3 new investigators in one day!! WOW...it was so cool.
Wednesday:
Today we went to visit another old contact...actually she was a referral from a member who didn´t have time to meet with us before. Her name is Frau S and she is an Artist. She is SO cool and she ended up letting us in again and we taught her and set up a new appointment....NEW INVESTIGATOR!! That was the 4th in 2 days!!
We then ate at the Schneider Family...they have the missionaries over EVERY week on Wednesday. They have been doing it for like 20 years or something. I don´t mind it...except when she makes us play games with her for an hour or 2. It´s getting better though. Our president has really stressed only 1 hour eating appointments..so we are trying our best!!
Thursday:
We had District Meeting in the morning and then made Pancakes afterwards. I have four Elders in my district and only 1 of them helped and the rest just sat around laughing at pictures on people cameras. I´m so glad that there are guys out there that help without being asked. I could never marry a guy that just sat around as I cooked dinner...I´m just not going to be that kind of wife. I was really grateful to see that I have a chance of finding a guy like that some day, my chances are just really slim!! :o) Anyway...We then went to Kerstin´s...a member who was baptised in Jan and had a talk with her. We meet with her every week, but I haven´t been seeing much progress. I think I told you about her. She works on Sunday so she cannot come to church. She has not been for a while even though she was supposed to come once a month. She told us today that she feels different. She feels like some things have left. She used to have a strong good feeling a lot of the time, but she said that that has gone away. I asked her if she thinks that that is because she doesn´t go to church and she said yes. She seems to finally be catching on to what me and my comps have been trying to teach her. You cannot progress very far if you don´t go to church on Sunday. I NEVER realized before my mission how important it was to be in Church EVERY Sunday. No matter where you are...you should be taking the sacrament on Sunday. There is nothing more important then that...except for the temple!! She is finally catching on, but says that she can´t come to church till Jan. She is moving in March to where her mom lives and plans to get a job where she doesn´t have to work on Sunday. I hope that she doen´t lose to much of her testimony before then!!
Friday:
We met with Frau O again today and it was pretty good. She is really knowledgeable about the Bible...I´m not so much!! I love the Bible, but I have spent more time in the Book of Mormon then in the Bible because it is easier for me to understand. We tried to commit her to pray about the Book of Mormon, but she doesn´t think that she has to because she thinks that it is a good book just like a lot of other Christian books. She said that nothing is as good as the Bible. She finally committed to pray about it, but it took some convincing.
Saturday:
We met with Frau S today. It was pretty good, but she likes to talk. We all talk a little slow in German because it is not our first language, but she likes to talk a lot and will interrupt you if you don´t talk fast enough. During the lesson Sister Cha asked her about what she remembers about Joseph Smith...well she started to talk and within a few minutes was talking about how many days are in February. I was so confused how we got there. Later when I was talking I was talking in like spurts because I would say a sentence and then be in the middle of another sentence and then I would pause for just a second to think of a word or how I should say something and I would see her mouth open to start to talk, so I would quickly finish my thought before she could change the subject by talking. That was how my whole part was...I would talk and then have to speed up to finish my thought...and so on!! It was really hard for me because I didn´t feel like she was listening to us. She just wanted to hear herself talk it seemed like!! She is super nice, but needs a lot of help. I try to be a good listener, but she goes off on these random tangents and I have a hard time concentrating. We will see how it goes!!
Sunday:
Well Frau S came to church and it was really good for her I think. It was Fast and Testimony meeting and I think it went well!!
Monday:
We met with Frau A today, but her daughter is in the hospital for a few days. I´m not sure exactly what happened, but she is doing better. We made a plan to go tomorrow to the hospital to visit her and her daughter and to have the Elders give her daughter a blessing. We talked to her about her husband and what he thinks and she said that they watched the Restoration film together and that he really liked it. I really hope that now he will take to time to meet with the Elders. Frau A also wants us to go shopping with her. That is going to be hard to say no to, but we cannot be her friend. She will not take us seriously and keep her commitments if we become to good of friends!! She is so cool though...!!
We then met with Frau O and she is getting a little more stubborn. She said that she could never put another book equal to the bible and that she will not pray about it because she knows that it is true and good, but nothing is as complete as the bible. But then at the end of the lesson we were talking about how the bible is missing verses and books and has been translated so many times...she totally agreed and even told us the amount of verses missing...doesn´t sound so complete to me!! :o) It will just take time. She is reading in the book and that is what is important now!!
We met with Frau Sauer again and brought the member that referred her!! That hadn´t seen each other for 3 years, but the member had continued to send her church material. I wish I had time to type everything that she said, but I don´t. She is so cool though and the member is perfect for her. They get along great and Frau Sauer has great respect for her. She said that if the Bible is true then the Book of Mormon has to be true. She is really religious and reads everything that we give her to read!! She is GREAT!!!
Tuesday:
We met with Frau A and her daughter in the hospital. The Elders came and gave her a blessing. It was really cool. Then the sisters taught her and answered her questions as I played with her cute daughter. We had a good time and are going to go back tomorrow as well.
Well...I have to run now!! Our Christmas Zone Conference is on Thursday and transfer calls are on Saturday!! Sister Cha and I will sing at zone conference...I love singing with her. She is a professional!!
hope you have a great week!!
Sister Jones
This last week was so great!!
Tuesday:
We had an appointment Frau O, which was a referral from a member. She is from Africa and speaks English. She is a strong believer in the Bible and very religious...just like most Africans from Gauna and Nigeria. She has a 4 year old daughter here in Germany and 2 sons back in Africa with her mom. We made another appointment with her for later this week and so she became a new investigator.
Then we stopped by an old contact O and we set up an appointment with her. We had already taught her, but since she didn´t have time to meet with us before we never had a time to make out a new appointment with her. So since we made out a new appointment she became a new investigator.
Then we went to an Enrichment Activity with Frau S. We took Marzipan and molded it into animal shapes...I´m not to good at that!! Marzipan is this sugar stuff with Almonds ground as small as it will go. They put it in almost EVERYTHING here. I didn´t really like it at first, but it is growing on me!! We had a lot of fun though. And because Frau S came she also became a new investigator.
We got 3 new investigators in one day!! WOW...it was so cool.
Wednesday:
Today we went to visit another old contact...actually she was a referral from a member who didn´t have time to meet with us before. Her name is Frau S and she is an Artist. She is SO cool and she ended up letting us in again and we taught her and set up a new appointment....NEW INVESTIGATOR!! That was the 4th in 2 days!!
We then ate at the Schneider Family...they have the missionaries over EVERY week on Wednesday. They have been doing it for like 20 years or something. I don´t mind it...except when she makes us play games with her for an hour or 2. It´s getting better though. Our president has really stressed only 1 hour eating appointments..so we are trying our best!!
Thursday:
We had District Meeting in the morning and then made Pancakes afterwards. I have four Elders in my district and only 1 of them helped and the rest just sat around laughing at pictures on people cameras. I´m so glad that there are guys out there that help without being asked. I could never marry a guy that just sat around as I cooked dinner...I´m just not going to be that kind of wife. I was really grateful to see that I have a chance of finding a guy like that some day, my chances are just really slim!! :o) Anyway...We then went to Kerstin´s...a member who was baptised in Jan and had a talk with her. We meet with her every week, but I haven´t been seeing much progress. I think I told you about her. She works on Sunday so she cannot come to church. She has not been for a while even though she was supposed to come once a month. She told us today that she feels different. She feels like some things have left. She used to have a strong good feeling a lot of the time, but she said that that has gone away. I asked her if she thinks that that is because she doesn´t go to church and she said yes. She seems to finally be catching on to what me and my comps have been trying to teach her. You cannot progress very far if you don´t go to church on Sunday. I NEVER realized before my mission how important it was to be in Church EVERY Sunday. No matter where you are...you should be taking the sacrament on Sunday. There is nothing more important then that...except for the temple!! She is finally catching on, but says that she can´t come to church till Jan. She is moving in March to where her mom lives and plans to get a job where she doesn´t have to work on Sunday. I hope that she doen´t lose to much of her testimony before then!!
Friday:
We met with Frau O again today and it was pretty good. She is really knowledgeable about the Bible...I´m not so much!! I love the Bible, but I have spent more time in the Book of Mormon then in the Bible because it is easier for me to understand. We tried to commit her to pray about the Book of Mormon, but she doesn´t think that she has to because she thinks that it is a good book just like a lot of other Christian books. She said that nothing is as good as the Bible. She finally committed to pray about it, but it took some convincing.
Saturday:
We met with Frau S today. It was pretty good, but she likes to talk. We all talk a little slow in German because it is not our first language, but she likes to talk a lot and will interrupt you if you don´t talk fast enough. During the lesson Sister Cha asked her about what she remembers about Joseph Smith...well she started to talk and within a few minutes was talking about how many days are in February. I was so confused how we got there. Later when I was talking I was talking in like spurts because I would say a sentence and then be in the middle of another sentence and then I would pause for just a second to think of a word or how I should say something and I would see her mouth open to start to talk, so I would quickly finish my thought before she could change the subject by talking. That was how my whole part was...I would talk and then have to speed up to finish my thought...and so on!! It was really hard for me because I didn´t feel like she was listening to us. She just wanted to hear herself talk it seemed like!! She is super nice, but needs a lot of help. I try to be a good listener, but she goes off on these random tangents and I have a hard time concentrating. We will see how it goes!!
Sunday:
Well Frau S came to church and it was really good for her I think. It was Fast and Testimony meeting and I think it went well!!
Monday:
We met with Frau A today, but her daughter is in the hospital for a few days. I´m not sure exactly what happened, but she is doing better. We made a plan to go tomorrow to the hospital to visit her and her daughter and to have the Elders give her daughter a blessing. We talked to her about her husband and what he thinks and she said that they watched the Restoration film together and that he really liked it. I really hope that now he will take to time to meet with the Elders. Frau A also wants us to go shopping with her. That is going to be hard to say no to, but we cannot be her friend. She will not take us seriously and keep her commitments if we become to good of friends!! She is so cool though...!!
We then met with Frau O and she is getting a little more stubborn. She said that she could never put another book equal to the bible and that she will not pray about it because she knows that it is true and good, but nothing is as complete as the bible. But then at the end of the lesson we were talking about how the bible is missing verses and books and has been translated so many times...she totally agreed and even told us the amount of verses missing...doesn´t sound so complete to me!! :o) It will just take time. She is reading in the book and that is what is important now!!
We met with Frau Sauer again and brought the member that referred her!! That hadn´t seen each other for 3 years, but the member had continued to send her church material. I wish I had time to type everything that she said, but I don´t. She is so cool though and the member is perfect for her. They get along great and Frau Sauer has great respect for her. She said that if the Bible is true then the Book of Mormon has to be true. She is really religious and reads everything that we give her to read!! She is GREAT!!!
Tuesday:
We met with Frau A and her daughter in the hospital. The Elders came and gave her a blessing. It was really cool. Then the sisters taught her and answered her questions as I played with her cute daughter. We had a good time and are going to go back tomorrow as well.
Well...I have to run now!! Our Christmas Zone Conference is on Thursday and transfer calls are on Saturday!! Sister Cha and I will sing at zone conference...I love singing with her. She is a professional!!
hope you have a great week!!
Sister Jones
02 December 2008
Week #27 (12-1-08)
This past week was fun, but slow. A lot of our appointments fell out, which was sad, but we had fun anyway!! We moved our p-day to Thanksgiving last week so Monday we went out and worked. We had 2 eating appointments, one with an active family and the other with a part member family. The part member family is from Italy and the mother has been a member for almost a year!! It was really hard for her to join the church because of her extended family. They are Catholic and very much against breaking that tradition!! She is so strong and has learned so much over the past year. I think that her husband would be more open to the church if he spoke better German. They come to church as a family once a month and they sit right in the front row, but he finds it boring....well I do too when I don´t understand what the heck they are talking about!! Hopefully he will allow us to start working with him, but he had a hard time understanding us...if only I spoke Italian!! JK. It would help our German because we would have to speak so simply!! We will see what happens.
On Tuesday we met with a inactive woman named P M. We have been meeting with her for the last couple of weeks. She has now given up smoking...going on 7 or 8 days!! But she thinks that our religion is too strict. She is bugged by little things...like that we need to wear a skirt to church. I told her that that is not a commandment, but she still finds it dumb that it is requested. She said that she would wear a skirt anyway, but just because they tell her to, she doesn´t want to. (Kind of sounds like how I was...when I was like 14!!!) She is a super cool lady and just needs to get a Testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She still agrees to meet with us, so she must like something about our church!!
On Wednesday we met with Frau H. She is a lady that we met through doing doors. She is kind of old and is leaving for the Month of December with her family for Christmas. The appointment was super good though. We taught her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and she agreed to read and pray. She even said that she would take the Book on Vacation with her!! Cool huh??
On Thursday we had Frau A, but she was not home. We waited for a little bit, but not long enough. She called later and said that she got home 15min past. She had another appointment and tried to get home as fast as she could. Normally we wait 15 minutes, but we didn´t this time!! To bad...oh well, we made an appointment for Friday. We then went to our District Thanksgiving Party!! It was kind of a bummer because 2 of our Elders went to play soccer with some other missionaries...so they came a few hours late!! Our Zone leaders were also invited, but they told them no because they already had plans with the district!! To me that shows what kind of people they are...they really are the nicest Elders ever!! I wish I had friends back home to hook them up with, but they are all getting married now!! Oh well!! We ended up having so much fun anyways. As the other Elders were playing Soccer in Minden (about 30min train ride north) we were making the food. I was in charge of the Jello salad...you know the kind with the cool whip and fruit cocktail and jello powder stuff!! Well I had to improvise...they don´t have cool whip here. The Elders had Extreme Green Apple Jello from America so I used that and also made my own cool whip. It was ok, but I´m not a fan of Extreme Green Apple!! Pistachios is so much better. The Elders were nice though and told me it was good...good thing guys eat everything!! Sister Cha made the Turkey...well they were turkey breasts with this super good sauce!! It wasn´t like a normal thanksgiving, but it was SOOO good anyways...a little Germanized!! We then just played cards and then went out to work! It was a Memorable Thanksgiving...the only one I will have in Germany!!
Friday was Sister Buynak´s Birthday so we went out to eat and then had weekly planning. Frau A called us and cancelled our appointment and changed it to Monday!! I think I´m going to buy her a daily planner for Christmas. She never remembers her appointments!! lol
Saturday we did splits. We went over to a members house and made a bunch of cookies and then we went out and delivered the cookies and advent calendars that we made to the less actives and new members. I went with the Member. Her name is Carolin Adler and she is 24...so we are the same age!! She is pretty cool and we had a good time together. Not to many people were home and they live SO far away from one another that it is hard to visit too many, but it was still effective. We left notes and calendars for a lot of people though. It was weird to not be with my comps. I have not been away from them in so many months...it was weird to have it just be me and a member!! :o) The Adler family actually have relatives right around where mom lives in Federal Way. They are not members, but I will visit them when I get home and tell them that I met their family in Germany!! It will be so cool!!
Then Sunday we went to church and then there was a baptism of a little girl in the ward after church. We then had our Christmas dinner (lunch). It was super fun. I taught some of the girls there this cool cup game that I learned at girls camp. We had fun doing that. It is really weird because before my mission I was super loud and what I would call crazy fun. I loved to just be me and not care what others thought around me, but now on a mission I have to be a little more serious...only a little though. I try not to be as loud and I´m a lot more serious then I thought possible. Sometimes I miss having my silly fun, but I can be that way when I get home. I still have fun with people, but it is not the same because I need to be more professional...plus the German´s are a little bit more of a serious people. I love being more serious though because I notice more people around me and am learning how to help and recognize other people's needs!! It is good for me to settle down and grow up...but that is sometimes hard!! I´m working on a good balance of both.
Sunday night we were visiting some more inactives and we stopped this lady on the street. She said that she used to go to church with the Mormons and that she would like to start coming back. We were right by where she lived so we went in and talked to her for a while. Her name is Frau S and she is an older lady. She hasn´t been to church for a long time, but wants to slowly make her way back. We invited her to come to a RS activity tomorrow. She said she would come!! Oh...funny story. Ok, so there were some chocolates on the table and she said that we could eat some. Well we didn´t take dinner that night so I decided to eat one. Well I unwrapped it and took a bite and juice went everywhere. I made a noise and she looked over and asked me if I didn´t like it and I told her (while holding the juice and chocolate in my mouth) that it just went everywhere. She then asked me if I didn´t like alcohol and told me that there was alcohol in them...she said that while she was getting me a paper towel. I looked at her with big eyes and she said that it was just vodka. I then took the paper towel and spit it out. She then asked if we don´t drink it and I said no...we don´t drink alcohol. I only ended up swallowing a little bit because I held most of it in my mouth. When I had unwrapped the chocolate and took a bite I thought that maybe it was one of the chocolates that had a cherry with juicy stuff in it, but no...it was vodka!! You got to be careful here in Germany. They put alcohol in everything...chocolate, bakery foods, ice cream!! They sure love their alcohol!! I think that that is the second time I have broken the work of Wisdom while on my mission!! Hopefully the last!! :o) Man...it was so funny...I felt kind of sick the rest of the night. It was either my guilt or the fact that I had drunk a little bit of alcohol for the first time...I think it was my guilt!! :o)
This morning we had an appointment with Frau A, but we did splits again and so Sister Cha and I didn´t go. We thought it would be better with only a few people. So Sister Buynak and Schwester Wächter went. She said it was good and that Frau A is just really confused!! She even prayed that she wouldn´t be so confused. I hope that the Lord answers her prayer!!
I love this Gospel and the fact that I get to talk about it everyday!! I really know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that what we do everyday is so important. Everyday we are one day closer to meeting our God and I can´t wait for that day to stand before Him and be able to kiss his feet!! I love Him and all that He has done for me. He gave up His life so that I can live and I have given Him this time to try and pay Him back. I know that that is impossible to fully pay Him back, but I will do what I can to make Him proud of me and to help His children here in the wonderful country of Germany!!
Deine,
Sister Jones
On Tuesday we met with a inactive woman named P M. We have been meeting with her for the last couple of weeks. She has now given up smoking...going on 7 or 8 days!! But she thinks that our religion is too strict. She is bugged by little things...like that we need to wear a skirt to church. I told her that that is not a commandment, but she still finds it dumb that it is requested. She said that she would wear a skirt anyway, but just because they tell her to, she doesn´t want to. (Kind of sounds like how I was...when I was like 14!!!) She is a super cool lady and just needs to get a Testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She still agrees to meet with us, so she must like something about our church!!
On Wednesday we met with Frau H. She is a lady that we met through doing doors. She is kind of old and is leaving for the Month of December with her family for Christmas. The appointment was super good though. We taught her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and she agreed to read and pray. She even said that she would take the Book on Vacation with her!! Cool huh??
On Thursday we had Frau A, but she was not home. We waited for a little bit, but not long enough. She called later and said that she got home 15min past. She had another appointment and tried to get home as fast as she could. Normally we wait 15 minutes, but we didn´t this time!! To bad...oh well, we made an appointment for Friday. We then went to our District Thanksgiving Party!! It was kind of a bummer because 2 of our Elders went to play soccer with some other missionaries...so they came a few hours late!! Our Zone leaders were also invited, but they told them no because they already had plans with the district!! To me that shows what kind of people they are...they really are the nicest Elders ever!! I wish I had friends back home to hook them up with, but they are all getting married now!! Oh well!! We ended up having so much fun anyways. As the other Elders were playing Soccer in Minden (about 30min train ride north) we were making the food. I was in charge of the Jello salad...you know the kind with the cool whip and fruit cocktail and jello powder stuff!! Well I had to improvise...they don´t have cool whip here. The Elders had Extreme Green Apple Jello from America so I used that and also made my own cool whip. It was ok, but I´m not a fan of Extreme Green Apple!! Pistachios is so much better. The Elders were nice though and told me it was good...good thing guys eat everything!! Sister Cha made the Turkey...well they were turkey breasts with this super good sauce!! It wasn´t like a normal thanksgiving, but it was SOOO good anyways...a little Germanized!! We then just played cards and then went out to work! It was a Memorable Thanksgiving...the only one I will have in Germany!!
Friday was Sister Buynak´s Birthday so we went out to eat and then had weekly planning. Frau A called us and cancelled our appointment and changed it to Monday!! I think I´m going to buy her a daily planner for Christmas. She never remembers her appointments!! lol
Saturday we did splits. We went over to a members house and made a bunch of cookies and then we went out and delivered the cookies and advent calendars that we made to the less actives and new members. I went with the Member. Her name is Carolin Adler and she is 24...so we are the same age!! She is pretty cool and we had a good time together. Not to many people were home and they live SO far away from one another that it is hard to visit too many, but it was still effective. We left notes and calendars for a lot of people though. It was weird to not be with my comps. I have not been away from them in so many months...it was weird to have it just be me and a member!! :o) The Adler family actually have relatives right around where mom lives in Federal Way. They are not members, but I will visit them when I get home and tell them that I met their family in Germany!! It will be so cool!!
Then Sunday we went to church and then there was a baptism of a little girl in the ward after church. We then had our Christmas dinner (lunch). It was super fun. I taught some of the girls there this cool cup game that I learned at girls camp. We had fun doing that. It is really weird because before my mission I was super loud and what I would call crazy fun. I loved to just be me and not care what others thought around me, but now on a mission I have to be a little more serious...only a little though. I try not to be as loud and I´m a lot more serious then I thought possible. Sometimes I miss having my silly fun, but I can be that way when I get home. I still have fun with people, but it is not the same because I need to be more professional...plus the German´s are a little bit more of a serious people. I love being more serious though because I notice more people around me and am learning how to help and recognize other people's needs!! It is good for me to settle down and grow up...but that is sometimes hard!! I´m working on a good balance of both.
Sunday night we were visiting some more inactives and we stopped this lady on the street. She said that she used to go to church with the Mormons and that she would like to start coming back. We were right by where she lived so we went in and talked to her for a while. Her name is Frau S and she is an older lady. She hasn´t been to church for a long time, but wants to slowly make her way back. We invited her to come to a RS activity tomorrow. She said she would come!! Oh...funny story. Ok, so there were some chocolates on the table and she said that we could eat some. Well we didn´t take dinner that night so I decided to eat one. Well I unwrapped it and took a bite and juice went everywhere. I made a noise and she looked over and asked me if I didn´t like it and I told her (while holding the juice and chocolate in my mouth) that it just went everywhere. She then asked me if I didn´t like alcohol and told me that there was alcohol in them...she said that while she was getting me a paper towel. I looked at her with big eyes and she said that it was just vodka. I then took the paper towel and spit it out. She then asked if we don´t drink it and I said no...we don´t drink alcohol. I only ended up swallowing a little bit because I held most of it in my mouth. When I had unwrapped the chocolate and took a bite I thought that maybe it was one of the chocolates that had a cherry with juicy stuff in it, but no...it was vodka!! You got to be careful here in Germany. They put alcohol in everything...chocolate, bakery foods, ice cream!! They sure love their alcohol!! I think that that is the second time I have broken the work of Wisdom while on my mission!! Hopefully the last!! :o) Man...it was so funny...I felt kind of sick the rest of the night. It was either my guilt or the fact that I had drunk a little bit of alcohol for the first time...I think it was my guilt!! :o)
This morning we had an appointment with Frau A, but we did splits again and so Sister Cha and I didn´t go. We thought it would be better with only a few people. So Sister Buynak and Schwester Wächter went. She said it was good and that Frau A is just really confused!! She even prayed that she wouldn´t be so confused. I hope that the Lord answers her prayer!!
I love this Gospel and the fact that I get to talk about it everyday!! I really know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that what we do everyday is so important. Everyday we are one day closer to meeting our God and I can´t wait for that day to stand before Him and be able to kiss his feet!! I love Him and all that He has done for me. He gave up His life so that I can live and I have given Him this time to try and pay Him back. I know that that is impossible to fully pay Him back, but I will do what I can to make Him proud of me and to help His children here in the wonderful country of Germany!!
Deine,
Sister Jones
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